Aneurin Bevan and the Art of Politics

“Nothing,” said Mr. MacMillan in his tribute to Aneurin Bevan in the House of Commons, “was more striking than the surge of sympathy at the time of his grave illness some months ago. This feeling was spontaneous, and it was shared by men and women of every class and every party, including those whom he had in the past attacked most fiercely.”

He went on to wonder why “a man who had, all through his life, been a somewhat controversial figure should have ended by commanding such general admiration and affection.” That Bevan was admired and loved by his friends, and admired and held in quite uncommon affection by those who were only occasionally in his company, is, indeed, not wonderful. He was, we are told, a choice friend; he was certainly a choice companion. But that this admiration and affection should have extended even to those who had never known him and perhaps had never heard him speak is remarkable.